A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to processes and apparatus for aligning paper documents and, more particularly, to paper joggers and processes suitable for aligning the edges of retail store coupons or the like.
B. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, paper documents, such as checks, airline tickets, utility bills, credit card receipts and retail coupons, have been aligned preparatory to being scanned at very high speeds by automated equipment. It is desirable to align such documents, which are often of irregular shapes and sizes, in order to facilitate their scanning and subsequent sorting. Illustrative examples of prior processes and apparatus for aligning paper documents are set forth in the following United States patents: Roessle U.S. Pat. No. 954,136; Wilson U.S. Pat. No. 1,236,892; Carlton U.S. Pat. No. 1,694,499; Weyandt U.S. Pat. No. 2,494,075; Wilson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,410; Snellman et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,907; Fackler et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,312; Ruud U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,743; Ayer U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,880 and Herold et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,095.
Conventionally, paper joggers utilize a fixed tray for holding paper to be jogged. The tray is connected to a vibratory mechanism which imparts oscillatory motion in one or more directions to the paper documents to align the documents along at least two edges. For example, L-shaped trays generally mounted at an angle with respect to a horizontal plane have been used so that the paper documents to be jogged are contacted along the two edges to be aligned. In addition, such trays have included a plurality of dividers within each tray extending parallel to the paper documents to be jogged to divide the documents into discrete segments to facilitate the oscillation of the individual documents.
Conventional paper jogging processes include as a first step the loading of a transfer tray with a large number of paper documents to be jogged. Once loaded, the transfer tray is taken to a paper jogging machine where the documents are removed by hand from the transfer tray and placed on edge between dividers in a fixed paper jogging tray fixedly secured to a portion of the jogging machine. Usually the jogging machine is operating while the documents are being placed in the fixed tray. The documents are oscillated by the jogging machine until the edges of the documents are sufficiently aligned. While the jogging machine is still functioning, an operator may manually remove the aligned paper documents from the fixed tray and return the documents to the transfer tray while being careful to maintain the edges of the documents in alignment.
Such conventional processes are very labor intensive, difficult and unsatisfactory in requiring the repeated handling of the paper documents to be jogged, often resulting in the loss of the prearranged sequence and the alignment of the paper documents.